Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

A fairy tale for adults or children?

Visually stunning. However, this film suffers from an identity crisis. It is a fairy tale. A real Grimm's Brother's tale--not some Disneyfied feel good animated adventure. Like the Grimm's original tales, it is full of darkness, shadows and things that go bump in the night. But also, it is a film full of the wonder of being a child.

Unlike most fairy tales, it lacks a moral or lesson; and the film is so full of graphic violence and blood shed, no adult in their right mind would take their kid to see it. And there you have this film's real failing. It doesn't know who its audience is. If the blood and violence had been toned down a bit and it's message more clearly defined it could have easily been one of the greatest children's fairy tales of all time.

Perhaps Del Toro feels people wouldn't take his work seriously if he made a children's film. And so he brings in the Nazi's and politics and all sorts of adult rubbish, splashes them all over his film and says "hey, it's ok for you to watch it. It's an adult fairy tale now." And, in this he almost succeeds.

Underneath the muck and filth of the adult world that surrounds her, the innocent and fantastic imaginings of a young girl remind us once again what it is like to be a child again. But these moments are few and fleeting, flashes of something greater in a film soiled by the ordinary. It comes so close at times, it makes me wonder whether it is just a fluke, or if Del Toro just failed miserably at bringing his latest work out of the fog of budgets, deadlines, and Hollywood profiteering.

However you look at it, this film is less then the sum of its parts. However, some parts are worth watching just for themselves. The Fawn for instance is simply . . . well, amazing. In an industry drowning in a sea of computer graphics, this simple earthy and real looking creation is just breathtaking. When I saw the trailer for the film, this was what drew me to it. Also, the fairy tale itself, following the classical framework of tales hundreds of years old is also, ironically, refreshing.

For the eyes, a thumbs up. For the collection, a thumbs down. January 3, 2009

del toro did it a+++++++++

anybody that gave pan's labyrinth a score of 3,2, especialy 1,Del Toro presents one dazzling visual spectacle after another, whether it be the Pale Man with his eyes set into his palms, the grisly surgery Vidal performs on himself, a dead tree that resembles at once a demonic horn and a womb, or a hacienda filled with gothic nooks and secrets. Francisco Goya, no stranger to images of violence and grotesquerie and the horrific, would approve. January 2, 2009

Pan's Labyrinth

I just got this movie from "Santa" on Christmas. My father (you may know him as Joseph A. Dial) told me that this was an incredibly good movie and that I had to watch it, since I'm taking Spanish class in my 7th grade classes and this movie is in Spanish. So we settled down to watch it last night, and this is how I felt about it.
Overall, it is a very well done movie. It is a darkly magical fairytale, but at the same time it deals with real-life things; war, death, pain, trust, obedience, and secrets. It is hauntingly excellent and frighteningly superb. I'm 13 and technically not supposed to watch R rated movies (nobody really cares these days) but this movie really shouldn't be watched by younger viewers. They is a LOT of gruesome violence and freaky, haunting parts (the Pale Man who eats children, the mother bleeding to death in childbirth, etc). My father skipped through a few torture or really bloody scenes for our sake (my two younger brothers watched it as well). But let me just explain the plot:
Ofelia is a young girl whose father died in the war, and so her mother gets lonely but marries an army captain called Vidal. He is a cruel man, but her mother does not see this right away. Meanwhile, Ofelia- a fantasy-loving girl- discovers a labyrinth and her real past (she is a Princess of the underworld reborn) and must perform and succeed in 3 increasingly dangerous tasks to prove she is not too human to become the Princess again. She is aided by three fairies, a faun named Pan, and her human friend Mercedes who is helping the rebels in the war behind Vidal's back. Can Ofelia prove to be what a Princess of the underworld is and leave the bloody, dark human world or will she fail and be condemned with a cruel step-father and a dying mother forever?
Yes, you should buy this movie, or rent it at the very least, because it is a very powerful but slightly frightening film. If you don't like subtitles (the whole film is in Spanish), you honestly won't notice them here. The subtitles are well done so that you feel as if you can understand the characters. I actually picked up several words, since I know a bit of Spanish by now.
Hope it helped!
~~Moonwhisker~~ December 28, 2008

Not a huge fan although...

The person who reccomended it to me is absolutely crazy about it. Guess its a matter of opinion. I thought some parts of it was awesome but the ending didnt live up to my expectations. December 12, 2008

scaring brutal

I never need to see this movie again. It looks lovely, but it is beyond brutal and scaring. I'd rather watch Schindler's List again. All of love beauty and fantasy is ruined by the excessive violence. This is NOT a fantasy film it's a war movie with creepy dream sequences.

Try Ledgend, Labyrinth, or Mirror Mask for better fantasy with a similar look. December 9, 2008

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